Savior
by Sedentary Wordsmith
Summary: Danny saves Sam's life, but for the price of his own. But is it too late to save him? What if she returns the favor? Character deaths. Complete.


My first Danny Phantom fic! Yay! I stayed up until 4 a.m. last night to make sure it got done, so you'd better like it! It's just one chapter, but I separated it into six parts. Enjoy!

Oh, uh, one more thing. There's no Tucker. Sorry, but he would have just gotten in the way!

Don't forget to tell me what you thought of the first bad guy's name! (cackles) Er…I hope this doesn't get deleted because of it.

I don't own Danny Phantom; Butch Hartman does. (cackles again)

Savior

Part 1

Bookstore Fight

"Geeze, where's the fire?" Danny asked rhetorically, watching as four police cars sped down the street, sirens shrieking and lights blazing.

"I dunno," Sam answered, taking a lick at her frozen soy cube. She and Danny had spent the entire afternoon just hanging out together, as they did every day after school, and it was now nearing evening. "Hey, maybe they found that serial killer fugitive, that Butch Hartman. I saw on the news last night he was last seen heading to Amity Park. They say he's killed seventeen people." She took another casual lick at her soy.

Danny gave her a sideways glance. "I see now why the news is your favorite channel."

She laughed lightly then her eyes lit up with an idea. "Hey Danny, if he is in Amity, maybe you could help catch him! It should be easy seeing as you have a rather unfair advantage over average humans."

Danny groaned. "Sam, I hunt ghosts, not human fugitives. Isn't that better left to trained professionals, like the _police_, perhaps?" He knew this would only be the beginning. If he caught just this one, it would never end, as there would be just one more, then just one more. It had been that way with animals, too. It started with him using his powers to get a cat down out of a tree, then never stopped as Sam continued employing him in saving other "defenseless little animals." He had enough on his plate between balancing ghost hunting and his school and social life, never mind tracking down human criminals.

"Police, my foot!" Sam declared. "They've been trying to catch this guy for over a year now after he escaped from prison, and they've barely caught a whiff of him. It's as though he vanished like a ghost." She grinned at the joke, but Danny just rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure they'll get him soon. Besides, what can I do? He's probably not anywhere near Amity." The two rounded a corner to find the four police cars from earlier along with several more surrounding an abandoned bookshop. "…or not."

"That must be him, Danny!" Sam cried excitedly. "But they'll never catch him like that. He's too smart. He'll find some way out. He's gotten his way out of worse than this."

Danny raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "You sound almost admiring of him, Sam."

The young Goth made a face. "No way. He used to abuse animals when he was younger." Just the mention of the fact made her want to go over and find and kick the guy herself.

"How do you know so much about him, anyway?" Danny asked.

"The news," she replied simply with a smirk. "You should watch it more often. It's educational."

The two friends watched as a policeman used a megaphone to order whoever was inside to come out with their hands up. "That'll never work," Sam stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Shots rang out and the policemen ducked down behind the cover of their cars. Sam gave her friend a pleading look and he groaned in defeat.

"Alright, but just this once!" He took a final lick of his own ice cream before abandoning it and changing into his ghostly form after making sure no one was looking his way. But everyone's attention was on the larger matter at hand.

Sam caught his arm before he could fly off, giving him an earnestly concerned look. "Be careful, Danny. This guy is really dangerous."

He merely grinned down at her. "So are Plasmius and Skulker, and look at how many times I've beaten them." He took off, flying invisibly into the old bookstore, sighing as he went. "Why do I let you talk me into these things…?"

The fugitive was easily spotted, sitting on the floor behind the cash register. He was a big burly tattooed man with a gruff and scarred face, and held a large automatic in his hands.

Danny turned visible again right in front of him and smirked at the expression on the man's face. "Butch, is it? I don't usually do this kind of thing, but I figured I could make an exception today."

The man's eyes were wide in fear as he beheld the glowing form floating up off the ground. "GHOST!" he shouted, bringing his gun up and firing. Danny sighed as the bullets merely phased through him, embedding themselves in the wall behind.

The halfa raised a hand and a green beam shot out towards the man, throwing him back over the counter and under the shattered front window. Danny quickly dove in and dealt the stunned fugitive a blow to his jaw that sent him skidding across the floor.

But years of prison had taught the man more than civil obedience. He quickly jumped up and sidestepped Danny's next attack, grabbing the ghost boy by the leg and swinging him around a few times before throwing him out the front window.

Danny cried out as he landed painfully in the street, just at Sam's feet, the girl having come closer to better see the fight. Surprisingly, she only laughed down at him. "Dude, I can't believe you're getting your butt kicked by a _human_. Other than Dash, that is."

Danny glared up at her before an evil smile lit his face. "Very funny. But you may want to step back, _Sammykins_. This could get ugly." She glared at him for daring to say the hated nickname and threw her frozen soy at him, but he had already disappeared back into the shop with a laugh.

Speaking of disappearing… "Now where did he go?" Danny mumbled to himself, quickly scanning the building with no sign of Butch. "That's weird. He couldn't have just vanished…"

There was a sudden cry behind him and he turned in time to receive the butt end of a gun in his face as his opponent jumped out from behind a bookshelf. The strike stunned Danny, who fell to the floor, shaking his head to clear the stars in his vision.

Butch, taking advantage of his enemy's temporary distraction, quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him harshly into a wall. Danny gritted his teeth at the pain he swore he was almost becoming used to by now. He had been thrown against more than his fair share of walls in his ghost-fighting career.

Shaking the spots out of his vision, he gasped and instinctively went intangible as a huge fist headed straight for his face. He slipped through the wall and came back out in front, looking around for the man who again seemed to have disappeared.

The prisoner's head and shoulders suddenly popped out from behind the register, letting out another round of shots at the police outside. A small crowd had been attracted by all the commotion, despite the efforts of the police to keep them away.

'Man, what is it with spectators?' Danny thought to himself. 'I have to get these people out of here before somebody gets hurt.' He flew out over the crowd and made himself visible again, raising his voice so everyone could hear. "Excuse me, but EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"

"GHOOOOST!" someone shouted, followed by much screaming and the crowd scattering.

"Ahh…that was easy." Danny smirked. But one figure that had not moved caught his eyes and he sighed. "Geeze, Sam, that means you too." He was about to fly down and make her move somewhere safe, when the fugitive let out another round of shots from his machine gun.

As if in slow motion, Danny could see the line of bullets ricochet off the pavement in a wide arc from the police cars, straight toward—"SAM!"

He dove down toward her at breakneck speed, agonizingly aware that there was no time for her to move, or for him to reach her and make them both intangible. He was also aware that Danny Phantom could not stop bullets.

But Danny Fenton could.

In that split second, there was a bright flash of light before something heavy rammed into Sam, knocking her over and causing her to skid a few feet on the rough pavement. The breath knocked out of her lungs, she found herself staring up into wide blue eyes, only inches away from her own.

Everything was eerily silent as she was only aware of those pain-filled blue eyes staring blankly into her own, and a cold breath on her face, followed by a drop of something warm on her cheek.

She tried to move and the eyes before her lidded slightly, their owner slipping off from on top of her to land hard on the pavement. She sat up and looked at the person lying beside her, stifling a scream by throwing her hands over her face in shock.

Danny lay motionless beside her, a growing crimson stain marring his white shirt, a thin red trail leaking from his mouth. Blank blue eyes stared up unseeing at the sky.

"Da—Danny?" Sam asked quietly, feeling more afraid than she could ever remember. "Danny? Can you hear me? Danny, answer me! Danny!"

But there was no response, no light breath that moved his chest. "Danny…" she fell forward, her head on his chest, as the drop of blood on her cheek fell down her face to mix with her tears.

Part 2

Still a Phantom

Sam sat listlessly on the couch in front of the television set, blankly staring at the news on the screen. A woman with frilly blonde hair held a stack of papers in her hands, a picture of the old bookstore over her shoulder. Her shapely brows were drawn down in a frown.

"We return again to yesterday's shootout at the abandoned 'Freddy's Books' store last evening in the heart of Amity Park. There, police at last managed to corner and capture wanted fugitive Butch Hartman. Hartman is wanted in twelve different states for seventeen accounts of murder, now eighteen in result of yesterday's shootout.

"The fourteen-year-old boy, now revealed to be Daniel Fenton, was caught in the crossfire between Hartman and police outside the bookstore, and was killed immediately."

Sam squeezed her eyes shut as the picture of her smiling best friend flashed on the screen, unable to look at the face of the one who saved her life in exchange for his own. It should have been her lying cold and dead on the unforgiving pavement, not him. He'd never done anything to deserve that kind of fate. He was a hero. He was someone who had protected an entire city thanklessly for months on end, only to be brought down by one stupid human. And it had been her fault, too.

"…Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton and sister Jasmine have refused interviews, despite the pleading of police captain Matthew Patrick."

A man dressed in a police uniform appeared on the screen, the news station's microphone held to his face. "It's unfortunate about the boy, and my deepest condolences go out to his family, but at least he can rest in peace now that we've caught the guy responsible for young Daniel's and seventeen other deaths."

In a fit of rage toward the callous officer, Sam picked up the remote and threw it with all her might at the television, causing it to switch off. She buried her face in her hands, chocking back spent tears. It seemed as though all she had done since yesterday evening was cry, but there was still more that needed to come. She felt as though her heart had been ripped out, replaced with only a puddle of bloody tears.

"Sammy, are you ready to go?" Her mother's soft voice entered her hazy world. Her parents stood nervously before her, not really knowing what to say. Her father wore a black suit while her mother had on a knee length black dress, trimmed in pink ribbon—the most somber thing she owned.

Instead of answering, Sam merely rose and headed for the door and the car that was waiting outside. She herself was not wearing her usual plaid skirt, black tank, purple tights, and combat boots, not being able to bear the thought of showing up looking exactly like she had the day he died. Instead, she wore a long-sleeved black shirt with a plain black skirt that went to slightly below the knees. A silver chain-link belt with the clasp in the shape of an elegant rose and a plain crimson bracelet were the only special touches to the otherwise simple outfit. She remembered Danny had given her the belt a few months ago, but she had never actually worn it until now.

The waiting car took them down out of the "upper crust" section of town, onto a little road that would take them to the Amity Park cemetery. The short drive was not nearly long enough for Sam, dreading what she would see when she got there. If she had to see him…there…then it would all become real.

All too soon, the car pulled up in front of the gloomy cemetery gates and Sam reluctantly forced herself to step out and walk towards the tiny gathering, consisting of the Fentons, a few teachers, and a couple kids from school. She wondered idly how many more people would have shown up had they known the boy was not just an average kid, but the town superhero.

She stood across from the three remaining Fentons, her own parents flanking them, offering what support they could. Sam risked a small glance up at them, surprised to find them all in solid black—and not a jumpsuit in sight. Their faces were somber and grief-stricken, and even a little disbelieving. It had all happened so quickly, with no warning. As far as everybody besides Sam knew, he had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sam did not listen to the minister's short service, not wanting to hear the words of how Danny had been so young and life was so unfair but at least he was in a better place now. She stood aside as one by one the few people walked by the closed coffin to offer final words. Maddie had to be practically dragged away when she had started sobbing loudly and latched onto the coffin. Jasmine fared little better, but Jack just looked…sad.

Sam stood still and silent, face blank, even after everyone had gone, her parents wisely deciding to not disturb her. At last, though, a single tear broke through the dam and she fell to her knees beside the fresh mound of dirt. "Why, Danny…?" she asked softly of the wind, sifting a bit of the dirt between her fingers. "Why did you have to save me? Everyone needs you so much more than they need me. Why did you have to go?"

"But I haven't gone anywhere," a soft voice answered her. She looked up through her bleary eyes to see a glowing figure with white hair and bright green eyes standing before her. "You should know I would never leave you."

"Danny," Sam murmured, but remained where she was. "I'm so very glad…. But it hurts so much."

"I know."

She took a deep breath. "So, are you…full ghost now?"

He sighed lightly and offered his hand to help her up. "Walk with me." Sam took his hand and they began walking together, in silence for a while. "Not everybody who dies goes to the Ghost Zone," Danny finally started. "If I had not already been half-ghost, I would not be here right now." He let out a short laugh. "So really, I am still only half ghost."

"Then…what's the other half?" Sam asked slowly.

Danny shrugged. "Whatever comes after death when not the Ghost Zone, I suppose." Seeming to read her mind, he gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. I have a job to keep up, after all."

"So then, you'll stay and protect Amity forever?" Sam asked, a little hopeful.

Danny nodded. "At least until they no longer need me, or someone destroys this ghost half."

Sam made a face. "Then I hope that day never comes."

Danny merely shrugged again. "What will be, will be." They walked a bit more before the ghost broke the silence. "You should be getting home. Your parents are worried about you."

"Danny, no. I want to stay with you, for just a while longer," Sam pleaded. She was not about to let go of her greatest friend so easily.

"Sam, don't you see?" Danny replied, grasping her arms to get her attention. "I'm still here, I'm still with you. Just not as Danny Fenton. I'm not going anywhere." She hung her head and nodded slightly. He sighed again and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, I'll fly you home."

Part 3

Still There

Danny continued to protect Amity Park from the ghosts that still haunted the town, though Sam noted a marked change in him. He seemed sad, almost, though he hid it from her well. She could not know how it felt to be forced to watch from a distance as your family mourned your death, nearly giving into grief themselves.

Many wondered how Sam fared so well, having been more than best friends with Danny. But she did not have to feel that he was gone, for really, he wasn't. Completely. True, he was no longer there for her at school or to walk around town and get an ice cream with, but she still saw him every day between ghost fighting, and, unbeknownst to her, he would often spend the night in her room, simply watching her sleep.

It was during one of these times in the silence of the deep night as he hovered beside her bed that he at last realized how beautiful she was. Taking the time to sort through his rather jumbled emotions, he finally admitted to himself that she was more than his best friend—he loved her. But it was too late for that now, he realized. He was dead. Danny berated himself for obsessing over shallow preps like Paulina when what really mattered had been staring him in the face all along, just waiting for him to see.

He hesitated, then leaned forward closer to Sam and whispered, "Sam, you awake?" When there was no response, the ghost continued softly. "I should have known all along, and now that I realize it, it's too late. Will you ever forgive me?" He laughed slightly. "I really was clueless. I don't know if you can hear me or not, but maybe what I'm saying will get through. I love you."

Sam stirred, her face turning to the source of the voice. "I love you too, Danny." The ghost froze, not daring to make a sound, and if he had had a heart it would have leapt into his throat. But Sam only sighed in her sleep and turned over.

Danny could barely contain his shout of joy. She loved him! It had been said in her sleep, but that still counted, right? All at once he felt like kicking himself. Why couldn't he have just admitted it to her in life? All those little reasons that had kept him back, from realizing the truth of his feelings for so long, suddenly did not matter so much in death. "How foolish the living are," he muttered dryly to himself, but before the last word was out of his mouth, he shivered and a mist escaped his lips.

He sighed and looked down at Sam one last time, she still sleeping peacefully, before turning intangible and flying out of the room. A moment later the girl stirred awake at the feeling of a familiar presence in her room. Looking around her dark room with wide eyes, she called the name of the one she hoped would be there—she could feel his unheard words hanging in the air. "Danny?" But he was not there.

Part 4

My Turn

Danny paused mid-flight as the round tip of the sun began to peek over the horizon, all blood red and orange, like fire through stained glass. He turned from the bloody sunrise, concentrating on the matter at hand. He had still not been able to find the ghost that had set off his ghost sense, and was beginning to doubt if it was even still around.

Sighing, he decided to take one more round of the city, just to be sure all was well before school started. For a moment he almost forgot that he did not have to worry about school or being late ever again, just watching Sam on her way to be sure she was safe.

Finally he spotted movement below and groaned in exasperation as he noted the Box Ghost inspecting a large refrigerator box. When the simple ghost saw Danny coming after him, he gave a panicked cry of "Beware!" and shot off, obviously not too intent on the idea of being caught and shipped back to the Ghost Zone. Danny pursued him, knowing that while the Box Ghost would not normally cause intentional harm, he was still a hazard to humans.

An hour later, Box Ghost safely returned to the Ghost Zone, Danny headed back to Sam's house, but was stopped halfway there by an all-too familiar voice.

"Why, hello, Daniel. Fancy meeting you here."

"What do you want, Vlad?" Danny asked tersely.

The vampire-like ghost smiled. "I heard the strangest thing back in Wisconsin. They're saying you're dead! I just came to see if the rumors were true."

With just that as a warning, the halfa raised his hand and a red beam shot out at Danny, catching the unprepared ghost full in the chest and sending him harshly to the ground. "You could have…just asked," Danny gasped out, prying himself painfully off the ground.

"Ask?" Plasmius repeated. "Why would I want to do that when I could simply beat it out of you instead?" At this he shot another beam, but Danny, who was a least a little prepared this time, managed to roll out of the way and rise back up to his opponent's level.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Like Technus…or the Box Ghost!" Danny suggested, firing his own green beam at Plasmius.

The halfa merely raised a shield that blocked the blast, looking almost bored. "Oh, I never do tire of your constant wit," Plasmius retorted sarcastically. "Honestly, Daniel, this is all so elementary. Is this really the best you can do?"

"Not really," Danny answered. "I have a few new tricks to try out." He put his glowing hands together and a bright green, almost white, beam of energy shot out, narrowly missing Vlad as he dodged it.

"Almost impressive," he responded coldly. "But so do I." A red rope formed in his hands and he threw it at Danny, the rope wrapping itself around the boy and pinning his arms.

Danny struggled a moment uselessly against the ecto-rope before he was again thrown to the ground. Plasmius floated down beside him, shaking his head as if in pity. "Really, Daniel, I'd expected you to put up much more of a fight. You are even worse than usual. Can it be that death has weakened you?"

"I don't need to be—unph!—strong to beat you!" Danny shot back, still struggling with the rope bound tightly about him.

Vlad chuckled. "Yes, I can see that. Such big talk for someone who is about to have their afterlife cut rather short." He slowly raised a glowing red hand, a sadistic smile plastered on his face. "I shall take pleasure in destroying you once and for all, _Danny Phantom_."

Danny cringed, squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation of the blow, knowing there was no escape this time. It came just a moment later, and his eyes snapped open at such pain as he had only felt once before—the day he stepped into his parents' portal and became half ghost.

But that moment was lost as he could only think of the pain now, the intense energy coming from his enemy's hands completely surrounding him. He thought he could hear someone scream his name, but could not be sure over his own cries and Vlad's sadistic laughter.

Suddenly the blinding pain was cut off, replaced by an intense ache that permeated every cell in his body. He rolled miserably onto his side, clutching his head and moaning in agony, not noticing as the rope that bound him disappeared. It was not until another scream of pain reached his ringing ears that his attention was wrested to what was going on around him.

Sam stood between him and Plasmius, her hands on the half-ghost's wrists from where she had wrenched the destructive energy from Danny…to herself. "SAM!" he shouted in panic, his best friend's cries filling the air. "Get away from her!" he demanded of the halfa, but Plasmius did not heed him, now intent on destroying the one who had helped Danny thwart his plans for so long.

"I…said…get…AWAY!" Danny shouted, a deep rumbling building in the base of his throat. The shout turned to a deep roar, the waves of energy rolling into Plasmius and forcing him back until he was thrown hard against a tree.

Danny fell to his knees as the cry ended, breathing hard. Normally his Ghostly Wail would transform him back into a human after he used it, but now he just felt…tired. So very, very tired.

Forcing himself to raise his head to see the outcome, he quickly surveyed the uprooted trees, one nearly collapsed building (fortunately long-abandoned), and Vlad Masters lying motionless, apparently out cold. But this was not what caught Danny's attention.

"Sam!" he gasped and crawled over to her, gently cradling her in his arms. "Sam, are you alright?"

She cracked her eyelids open, staring up at Danny. "I…don't know," she whispered. "I don't…think so."

He felt frustrated tears gather in his eyes and angrily blinked them away. "Now what did you have to go and do that for, Sam? Now you've just gotten yourself hurt."

She smiled slightly up at him, though it was more of a grimace, really. "Easy. It was my turn. You saved my life, I saved yours…afterlife. We're even." Her eyes drifted shut and Danny shook her.

"Don't go leaving me now, Sam!" he ordered, and she obediently cracked her eyes open again.

"I'm sorry I never…told you how I feel about you," Sam said softly. Danny only shook his head in denial. This sounded much too much like the last words of someone dying.

"I'm sorry too. I guess we were both kind of stupid." He offered her a weak grin.

She smiled back, reaching up to gently stroke his cheek. "I'll wait for you," she said softly before her hand fell back to her side and her eyes slid shut.

Danny shook her again, desperately, ignoring the glistening tears on his face. "Sam? Don't go—I still need you! I love you! Don't go…" He hunched over her, silent sobs shaking his slight frame.

"Ah, so I get to destroy you and your little girlfriend in one day," the voice of Plasmius sneered down at him. He had obviously recovered and returned to finish up his business. Danny just remained hunched over Sam, ignoring his archenemy as he again raised his hand for the killing blow…

But it never came. Plasmius turned his head sharply as a shout of a familiar voice was heard, and he growled in anger. "You have not seen the last of me, Danny Phantom," he promised, then shot off into the air and quickly disappeared.

Hardly a moment later, Maddie Fenton burst into sight, a large ecto-gun clutched ready in her hands. Ready to fire, she gave a small shout of triumph at finding the ghost hunched on the ground before her. Then she noticed what the ghost still clutched tightly in his arms. "Samantha!" she gasped. "What have you done to her!" she demanded, the ecto-gun ready and pointed straight at Danny's head. But he did not look up, his eyes still on Sam's face.

Maddie hesitated as she noticed with surprise the raw grief and fresh tears on the ghost boy's face. She lowered the gun ever so slightly. "She was…special to you?" Danny merely nodded, fresh tears springing to life.

Maddie still hesitated, completely enraptured and confused by the lost look on the ghost boy's face. "Perhaps…I may have been wrong about you. My son…he was always trying to tell me that not all ghosts are evil, some even want to help. You kind of…remind me of him—just a bit."

Danny finally looked up at her, noting the hidden grief in her voice. An emotion she could not identify shone in his bright green eyes. "You loved him." It was not really a question.

"Very much," she replied, the tears more evident in her voice. "Hey, you. If you see him around…somewhere…could you tell him?"

Danny nodded. "I think he already knows." He could not tell her that her son was not in the Ghost Zone, but caught helplessly between three worlds. "And I think he loves you too."

The gun was now by Maddie's side, though she still had a tight hold on it. She walked a few hesitant steps toward him, and held out her arms. "I have to take her now."

Danny looked down at the girl in his arms, looking more like a sleeping angel to him than a dead mortal. He carefully lifted her and allowed his mother to take her in her arms. "Bye, Sam."

Maddie gazed at the ghost boy for another moment. "Promise me you will find the ghost who did this."

"He will pay. I swear it," Danny vowed. Then he watched as Maddie turned and left, Sam safely in her arms.

Part 5

Merciful Hunter

Danny did not know how long he sat there, lost in his broken world, only that day had long gone. He did not notice as a familiar mist escaped his lips, only dimly registering Skulker's appearance not long after.

"At last," Skulker declared, armed to the teeth in preparation for destroying the ghost boy, "the opportune moment has come for me to take your miserable little life."

Danny did not look up.

"What, aren't you going to fight, whelp?" Skulker demanded. Danny merely shook his head. "Well why not?" Skulker snapped, clearly agitated and a bit confused.

"What's the point?" Danny asked him softly. "Just go ahead and shoot me or blast me or whatever it is you're going to do already."

Skulker fired a warning shot past Danny's head, but the ghost boy did not so much as flinch. Skulker huffed angrily. "Skulker, a great hunter, does not kill defenseless prey." He turned and prepared to fly off when Danny's pleading voice stopped him.

"Skulker, please. I do not want this miserable existence any more." He turned grieved eyes up to the hunter. "I am dead, the person who meant the most in the world to me is dead, I can no longer protect Amity. There are others who can take my place. There is no reason for me to continue in this state any longer. Please."

Skulker hesitated a long moment, at last sighing in defeat. "A great hunter also puts a wounded animal out of its misery."

Part 6

Peace

Laughter drifted up through Jazz's open window as she lay on her bed, listlessly scanning over the pages of "Dealing with Grief Through Proper Psychology." She paid the sound no heed until it came again, and she froze. She would recognize that laughter, those voices, anywhere. She sprang up to her window and gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, then rushed downstairs as quickly as possible.

Throwing open the front door, her breath stopped as she saw her little brother and Sam walking down the street, hand in hand, in front of the house. Not Danny Phantom, just plain Danny.

The two laughed again at something they said before they noticed Jazz staring at them and waved happily at her.

Jazz remained frozen in the doorway, unable to think of what to do. It had been a week since Sam's funeral, and the ghost responsible for her death still had not been found, nor had Danny Phantom been seen at all since then.

Sam waved at her and gestured down to the girl's feet. Jazz looked down to find a neatly folded note on the step at her feet, tied with a thin black ribbon. She picked it up and carefully unfolded it, repeatedly reading the one word it contained in growing anger.

_Plasmius._

She looked back up at the two teens across the street, who nodded solemnly at her. Jazz set her mouth in a grim line and nodded back. "I understand."

Danny and Sam smiled again then turned to each other, placing their arms around each other's waists. Then, as Jazz watched, they took off, flying into the sky. Peace. They could find peace together.

Jazz looked back down at the note she held. She, on the other hand…had business to attend to.

The End! Thanks for reading, come back again! And please review!


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